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Frankie Boyle claims Labour party is so passive 'it makes Anastasia Steele look like Boudica'

'Is there anything they will oppose?

Heather Saul
Tuesday 28 July 2015 18:17 BST
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(Getty)

Frankie Boyle has criticised the passivity of the Labour party in a stinging critic of its MPs' apparent unwillingness to act.

The acerbic comedian accused Labour of transforming into a meek and submissive party that overlooks important issues, dismissing its current leader Harriet Harman as so ineffective, "she might as well stand down and leave the party to be managed by an out-of-office email”.

In a comment piece for The Guardian, he wrote: “I suppose the Labour party are like people who’ll watch a man beating his wife in the street but don’t want to get involved. 'Really this is a private matter between the Tory party and the starving, distracted masses who decided to stay with them. I mean – if she really didn’t enjoy living in poverty – why didn’t she just leave in May?'

“We now have a Labour party so passive they make Anastasia Steele look like Boudica. Is there anything they will oppose?"

Boyle also lambasted the media's “Corbyn-bashing” and its tendacy to repeat fears the Labour leadership hopeful will drag the party too far to the left. Current polls suggest Corbyn is on course to win the leadership contest despite concerns about his socialist policies.

He suggested Harmen's demand for Labour MPs to abstain from vote over the Conservatives' welfare bill because of the apparent public support for it, he concluded: "I guess for anyone who’s read Descartes, the logical conclusion of deciding your policy through polls is eventual non-existence."

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